HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 13, 2024) – Junior Koby Sherman had nine kills on 10 swings with just one error as No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball swept No. 16 Misericordia (25-13, 25-17, 25-17) to win the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship Saturday night inside Canavan Arena.

Graduate student Connor Feulner had six kills on nine swings with just one error as the Ducks committed just four attack errors on the night and hit .483 as a team. Fresh off crossing the 3,000-assist milestone, graduate student Louden Moran added 23 to his career total, while also serving a pair of aces for the Ducks, who won their 28th straight match to improve to 31-1 on the year. 

The victory propelled Stevens to its third straight MAC title and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where the Ducks will look to defend their national championship. Sherman, who also totaled three blocks in the championship match, was named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament for the third straight year. 

Jared Piontkowski finished with a match-high 12 kills to lead Misericordia, who fell to 23-11. The Cougars await Monday's NCAA selection show to learn if they've earned one of the two Pool 'C' (at-large) bids to the national championship tournament. Stevens has won eight of the nine all-time meetings between the programs. Misericordia was appearing in its first MAC championship match.

The Ducks' .483 hitting percentage marked the squad's second-highest total of the year, while the team's four hitting errors are the lowest since the Ducks totaled a mere two miscues in a sweep of MIT on Mar. 23, 2023.

The Rundown

• Stevens wasted little time placing separation between the teams, scoring the first five points of the match and seven of the first nine. 
• Feulner blocked an attack for the first point of the game as the Ducks totaled eight blocks on the evening. 
• Misericordia pulled within 9-4 after a service error, but Stevens responded with an 8-1 run that essentially broke the frame open. 
• Stevens, who never trailed in the match, hit .429 in the first set and forced Misericordia into more errors (10) than kills (9). 
• Sophomore Phillip Bone converted a pass from junior Sebastian Huyke to bring the Ducks to set point and a Cougar service error closed out the frame. 
• For the second straight set, Stevens raced out to a 5-0 lead before Misericordia was able to get on the board. 
• The second set lead swelled to as many as 10 after consecutive errors, one of which was caused by sophomore Tyler Hoke's emphatic solo block. 
• Misericordia went on its first run of the match to pull within six at 19-13, but couldn't get any closer as another service error and an ace from senior Carver Weirick closed out the frame. Misericordia committed 16 service errors on the evening.
• Graduate student Nathan Lancia set down a Feulner set to score the first point of the match. Piontkowski converted a Gannon DeFrain pass to even the score, marking the first time the teams were tied in the match other than at 0-0.
• The teams alternated the first six points, before a pair of Lancia kills bookended a four-point run that put Stevens in front for good. 
• The Ducks remained just two points ahead of the second-seeded Cougars for much of the set until a Sherman kill and a double block from Feulner and Moran put the Ducks ahead by five.
• Stevens closed out the sweep by scoring five of the final six points of the match, with Moran's second ace of the match putting an exclamation point on the Ducks' 21st three-set win of the season.

Top Performers

• Huyke finished with six assists.
• Nine different players finished with at least one kill. 
• Of Hoke's three blocks, two were solo. 
• Stevens hit at least .429 in each set. 
• Lancia, Weirick and Feulner also served an ace. 
• Bone and graduate student Christopher Varseveld each successfully converted their only swing.
• Sherman also led the Ducks with a match-high six digs. 

For the Opponents

• Jackson Fehnel was second on the team with seven kills. 
• Six different Cougars had at least one kill. 
• DeFrain had a match-high 26 assists and paced the Cougars with five digs.

Around the Middle Atlantic Conference 

• No other conference team was in action.

Up Next

• No. 2 Stevens will learn its NCAA placement Monday when the entire 16-team field is revealed via a selection show at 10 a.m. on NCAA.com. The Ducks have hosted a regional pod in the tournament in each of the last two seasons. 

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